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Paper short abstract

Winemaking mobilizes multiple non-human actors (e.g., vines, yeasts, soils, insects). Following grapes across their transformations, this paper reflects on four methodological strategies to approach non-humans in STS: art of noticing, traces, interdisciplinarity, and highlighting fragilities.

Paper long abstract

Wine production emerges from dense multispecies entanglements in which numerous non-human (e.g., vines, yeasts, soils, insects, animals, and pathogens) participate in the transformation of grapes into wine. In the context of the Anthropocene, attending to these actors is crucial, as they are central to the processes that produce the singularity of a wine and its terroir.

Based on an ethnographic inquiry that follows grapes across their successive stages of transformation—from vineyard ecosystems to fermentation—this paper examines how non-humans can be approached empirically in STS research. Inspired by multispecies ethnography (Tsing 2015, Kirksey & Helmreich 2010) and sensory ethnography (Pink 2009), the study documents the “contaminations” (Tsing 2015) and encounters through which humans and non-humans and between non-humans mutually transform one another during viticulture and vinification.

Rather than claiming to speak for non-humans, the paper proposes a methodological reflection structured around four mechanisms developed during fieldwork and their respective limits. First, placing nonhumans at the center of attention through what Tsing (2015) calls an “art of noticing.” Second, focusing on the traces non-humans leave in practices, materials, and transformations, which become sites of encounter for the researcher. Third, engaging an interdisciplinary approach (e.g., oenology, microbiology, agronomy) to multiply interpretative perspectives on these traces. Finally, acknowledging and working with the inherent fragilities of such inquiries (Damian et al. 2026), recognizing how epistemic uncertainty and methodological limits shape multispecies research.

By reflecting on these practices, the paper contributes to ongoing debates about the possibilities and limits of including nonhumans in STS research.